Wednesday, June 2, 2010

My Hot Dog & Poutine Wannabe Dinner

I've never tried Poutine in my life...so, how weird of me to try "recreating" it at home. How was I supposed to know how it tasted like? Therefore, please excuse my beyond inauthentic poutine wannabe and just go along this yummy ride, will ya?

From what I heard, poutine is essentially french fries served with cheese curd and gravy.They had me at cheese.Heck, they had me at fries!

So, here we go...My Poutine WannabeThe FriesI planned to use store bought french fries or frozen fries. But since I couldn't find any that day, I just sliced a couple of potatoes, rinse them until the water runs clear to get rid of the excess starch, pat 'em dry, and oven baked them with some butter and olive oil. I try to avoid deep frying whenever I can.

The cheeseIn a sauce pan, I threw in 2 tsp butter, 1/2 cup of skim milk, plenty of grated cheddar cheese, a pinch of salt, white pepper, a dash of paprika (I just did it for the love of red dust) and a bit of corn starch dilluted in water to thicken. I added a few chunks of cheddar at the end.

The gravyI despise store bought gravy, plus, I need to prepare my lunch for the next working day, so I used the gravy of this beef dish on my "poutine". Saute a clove of crushed garlic and a quarter of diced onion with a bit of butter and olive oil, add beef chunks, add mushrooms, drizzle some red wine, add some diced vegetables (I used peas, carrots and corn), add beef/chicken stock (optional) or just hot water, add mixed herbs (I used rosemary, oregano, and thyme), season with salt and black pepper, thicken with a bit of corn starch dilluted in water...and I got my version of gravy sorted.

The assemblyTwo servings of "fries". Since they will get soaked in sauces anyway, don't worry too much about them being not as fluffy or crispy as normal french fries...and you don't need to season them.

I couldn't resist but adding a few chunks of beef before pouring some gravy over 'em.

Topped with the liquid gold...cheese sauce with chunks of cheddar cheese...Yum. Amen.

I went even more inauthentic with the next serving...but I didn't regret it...I added the whole beef, veggie, and mushrooms with the gravy altogether before pouring the cheese.At least it is healthy---er, right?

...and while I prepared the hotdogs, I keep them in low oven to keep warm...It's amazing how I could peel myself off them.

Hello Rita,I've been watching your blog from afar for a while now, and love it. Don't think I ever commented it before, but this post just called upon me leaving you a note.

First, you're pretty close to the real thing let me tell you! Poutine being native to my region (Quebec-Canada) I know what I'm talking about! It has to be the strangest thing though... for me to think poutine is being eaten in Hong Kong! lol

Great effort, you get many brownie points for that one!

If you want, you can write back to me and if interested, we can make a package exchange, in which I could send you the real cheese curds, the real sauce and some other things from my place, you might find interesting.

Let me know what you think... and again, bravo for the original recreation!!!